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Two settlements in DPR restore electricity supplies after shelling — energy ministry

For the moment, eight populated localities in DPR remain without electricity

MOSCOW, January 20 /TASS/. Power engineers of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have restored electricity supplies to the Krasnyi Partizan settlement and to most households in the Vesyoloye village after the Ukrainian army shelling, the press service of the DPR Coal and Energy Ministry told the Donetsk News Agency on Wednesday.

"The people of the Krasnyi Partizan settlement of the Yasinovatsky district of the Donetsk People’s Republic [DPR] turned on the light in their homes at 17:00 yesterday, January 19, for the first time over the past 12 days," the ministry’s press service said adding that Krasnyi Partizan got disconnected after a shelling by the Ukrainian military as early as January 7, 2016. A 35kW electric power line was damaged by mine splinters," the press service went on to say.

The Coal and Energy Ministry added that the damage had occurred in a buffer zone where mines had been planted.

Electricity supplies have resumed to the Vesyoloye village, which was seriously devastated during battles for the Donetsk airport.

"More than half of Vesyoloye’s residents have started receiving electricity in their homes. More and more households get connected to regular electricity supplies," the republic energy ministry said.

For the moment, eight populated localities in DPR remain without electricity.

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, signed a 13-point Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements. The package was agreed with the leaders of the Normandy Four, namely Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine.

The Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk starting from February 15 and subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.